In 2013, snowy owls mysteriously began appearing in parts of the United States that don’t typically see them: Washington, D.C., Kentucky, Nebraska. It was the first signs of what scientists call an irruption, or rapid population boom in snowy owls. And this particular one would be the biggest irruption in 40 or 50 years.

Dave Brinker, a biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and his colleague Scott Weidensaul jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turn this boom into data. They launched a research effort, named Project Snowstorm, and crowd-funded enough money to purchase two dozen lightweight GPS transmitters custom-designed to fit on the backs of owls. Soon, streams of data came pouring in: longitude, latitude, altitude. The data provided insights into the hidden lives of these birds: hunting patterns, obstacles or dangers, and their migratory routes through Canada, the U.S. and the Arctic Circle.

In the few days I spent with the Project Snowstorm team, they trapped two owls on the chilly coast of Assateague Island, Md. before tagging and releasing them once more into the February wind.

The story was published on NPR.

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